Joey: The Whitfield Rancher – Tiger Shapeshifter Romance Page 3

  “I told you that you were better than them. I was correct, too.” Aurora sat down beside Autumn and took her hands into hers. “Over the years, you have proven you are very worthy of saying that to them. That night I warmed you, kept you warm throughout the night and into the morning. Each time you were sent out, a small faerie would tell me, and I’d do it over and over for you. Supplying you with not just a warm body, but food as well as water. You, in turn, did so much for us. Planting the flowers on the other side of the fence for us to use. You picked up trash along pathways. Little things like that have meant so much to us. Even now, you plant flowers and prune back your trees. When you leave the branches for us, the faeries can build homes and furniture. You, along with Joey, have given us so much more than anyone has. Even the Whitfields’ help, as much as it means to us, is less than the thoughtfulness of children who have so very little.”

  “Thank you.” Aurora nodded and asked her what her plans were now. “I have no idea. We’ve really only just met, and I’ve been dealing with the magic he gave me to heal, as well as having two of my sisters come by and annoy me. Do you suppose they’ll ever quit?”

  “They will when they are dead.” Shadow hadn’t meant to sound so positive about that, nor should she have said it so harshly. But Autumn only nodded, as if she figured that would be the only way to stop them.

  When Joey and his father came back into the house, she knew something had happened. What it was, she didn’t have any idea, but she could tell by the look her son gave Autumn that he was deeply in love with her. Shadow thought the two of them very well suited.

  “Hello, Lady Aurora.” Joey was hugged by the other woman, tightly and longer than she thought her son was comfortable with. “Did you get my message? I have all the plants you wanted seeds from, all dried and ready to be bagged up. I might have gotten more than you requested, but I’m sure you can use them.”

  Aurora explained, “There are certain plants in this area that are dying out. I thought if Joey could find them and harvest the seeds, we’d be able to plant them in a better place. The effect they have on this area of land isn’t all that big, but there will be less and less of them as the farmers spray for them.” Autumn told her she didn’t allow anyone to use sprays on her land. “And they don’t. I thank you for that as well.”

  “Joey has decided that if Autumn wants to, he’d like to return home with us. I told him how his grandpa Oliver and grandma have moved in with us, and their home is now his. But he said he’d have to speak to Autumn about it first.” At Blake’s comment, Shadow wondered if the woman would want to stay here, where her family was. Then she dismissed that, because she’d been doing some research on them and knew they weren’t close. “The mines are in good shape and producing gems at a very good rate. Also, the diamond mines hidden well within the coal mines are providing Autumn with a good deal of money.”

  “I don’t have a great deal to do with that. Mostly it’s the miners doing the work. And they’re being overseen by their foreman, who worked with my uncle before he passed away. It’s nothing I have to be here for.” Shadow asked if Aurora could send some of her people there to keep an eye on things if they decided to move. She said it would be an honor. “I loved living here when my uncle Ross was alive, but it hasn’t ever meant much to me as a home. A place to live, that’s all it is to me. If you’d like to move back home to be around your parents and family, Joey, I’m all for that.”

  “What will you do with this house?” She told Joey she didn’t know, and Shadow was never prouder of her son than she was in that minute. He wasn’t pushing his mate into anything but letting her decide. Autumn asked Blake what he’d do with it.

  “If it were me, I’d remove the house. We could take care of that before we leave. Or you can leave it here as a rental for someone that works in the mines for you.” She said her sisters would hurt them. “Then I’d remove it. But only if you’re sure, Autumn. Once it’s removed, we cannot put it back.”

  “I understand. You’ll be using magic.” Blake nodded. “I’m just worried someone will try and build something else here. Or move a home in here, like a trailer of some sort.”

  “No one will be able to if you don’t wish it to happen.” Autumn stared at Joey when he spoke. Autumn seemed to understand what he was saying more than Shadow did. When the younger woman nodded, Joey just simply snapped his fingers. “It’s done. If you’d like to pack all this up and go through it later, you and I together, we can make that happen as well. It won’t take us but a few minutes to clear this house out. Then Dad and I will make sure the house is gone. To the ground.”

  “Yes, I’d like that.”

  Almost as if Autumn had said to start, things began to disappear in the house. Standing up, the couch beneath her disappeared, along with several books and a lamp. Standing as still as she could, Shadow wondered where Joey had gotten so much in the way of magic. And Autumn too. Before they left the home to wait on it to be taken down, the place was emptied of every item, and two overnight bags were sitting by the limo they’d arrived in.

  “I hope you don’t mind that we’re going back with you.”

  Shadow looked where the empty house stood and back at the girl. “I’m so happy to have you both around I could nearly burst with it.” Shadow hugged Autumn. “Welcome to the family, my dear. I’m so glad my Joey found you.”

  She was too. Her son seemed calmer than he’d ever been. The haunted look was also gone, and she’d seen him smile several times since they’d arrived. Shadow didn’t care about the magic or anything else. As far as she was concerned, Autumn could have anything she wanted. She’d managed to get her son to smile again.

  Chapter 2

  Joey sat by his grandpa’s grave. He wasn’t one to dwell on what could have happened or should have, but he missed the old man more than he ever thought he would. Picking up an errant leaf, he held it in his hands as he looked at the house he and Autumn were going to be living in.

  “Did you know about her too?” He didn’t expect an answer and wasn’t surprised when none was forthcoming. “She’s very calming for me, just like you used to be. All she needs to do is look at me, and I can handle the crowds of people and not have to run out into the yard every few minutes. I wonder if she fishes.”

  Watching the movers taking the boxes containing her things into the house, he thought about her shooing him away to come here. Looking at the dateless marker on his grandpa’s grave, he did smile when he thought of the reason they’d not marked it with the year he’d been born and died. People would have never believed it.

  “I’ve come into my magic. I don’t know how much you knew about what happened the night of the robbery, but Tanner and Aurora saved me for you. I now know what you meant when you said that to me all the time. They had saved me for you.” The house he grew up in wasn’t far from where they were going to live. Joey was glad for that. He wanted to get closer to his mom and dad again. “You’ve been gone for two years now. Everyone I’ve spoken to said the day you died, it was like a cloud descended as a constant reminder of how lively you made the place around here. Although Grandpa Oliver is doing a good job now that he’s over his grief.”

  He thought about the night that had brought him and his grandpa Ollie so close. The night of the robbery and his part in it that ended the lives of several people. All of them were bad people from the start, but Joey hadn’t heeded his parents’ or his grandpa’s advice in staying away from them.

  “I’ve never told you this before, but when they tossed me into the trunk of the car, I was hoping for prison. A place where I could be alone. That I’d not see the disappointed look on my parents’ faces when I’d walk away from them. Only you understood it wasn’t them. It was me. That night, I will never forget what you showed me about what spending my life in prison would have been like. And you told me just how much it would hurt the two people that loved me enough to adopt me and
to keep me after everything I’d put them through.”

  Wiping at the tears he shed for the man he’d been, he put his hand on the grave’s marker for the two people there. One he knew better than he knew himself; the other, his grandma, Joey felt as if he knew her too, what with all the stories he’d been told about her.

  “I love you, old man. With all my heart. I miss you too, but I know you’re where you wanted to be before you took me under your wing.” He looked at the house again when he heard his name called. It was Autumn. “I’m sure there will be trouble when her family comes around. I’m also positive I can handle them. But as you reminded me all the time, it’s easier to take someone down with help than to have all the battle scars on my body and the memories I can’t share.”

  He got up then, wiping again at his cheeks, and kissed his hand before putting it atop the marker of Oliver Wendall Whitfield, patriarch of the Whitfield family. “I love you.”

  Making his way to the house, he smiled when Autumn came toward him. She was dressed in a pretty summery dress and a smile that could warm the world. When she was close enough he could touch her, she reached for his hand, and Joey took it. Her smile was all he needed for now.

  “Your brother is in the house. Bennett said he’s not seen you in years. How is that possible?” He told her he’d been away, trying to find himself. “Did you? Did you find the person you are now or are you still looking, Joey? I want to help you. You’ve done so much for me that I want to help you in the same ways.”

  “I think I’ve found myself. If I didn’t, then I found you, and that’s more than enough for me.” She stared at him. “What do you see when you look at me, Autumn? A regular man or a broken one? I’ve been broken for so long I’m not sure who I am most of the time.”

  “I see a man on the verge of something great. Yes, you’re hurt, but not broken. Not that you didn’t come close at times. I don’t know what a regular man is, so I’m going to tell you what else I see.” He nodded for her to continue. Joey didn’t know what he expected, but the next words out of her mouth surprised him. “A man I’ve fallen in love with. I don’t know when it happened. The day you chased my sister out of the house? Could be, but that’s only part of it. The person that saved my life? Him I love a great deal, but that’s not what I see either—a fixer. No, what I see is a man that could and will love. That someday, when we’re both ready, will be a great father. Understand and have a wealth of information to share with them. You’ll keep me safe from myself and those that wish me harm. Even though I could save myself now, it will be up to you to keep me from harm. I do love you, Joey. I will forever, too. Whatever else is going on behind those eyes of yours, it’ll work its way out as well. I believe if we’re together, then nothing can overcome us.”

  He kissed her then. Joey had thought he’d just kiss her gently, and they’d go see Bennett, but the kiss warmed his heart, his mind centered on just her. When he lifted his head, breathing hard, he looked at Autumn and fell in love with her too.

  Taking her hand, not giving in to the impulse to take her on the ground, they walked to the house he knew as well as he did his own parents’ home. The furniture was new, pieces he’d never seen before. But it still had the warmth and hominess he’d always associate with this house. Bennett, coming from the kitchen, nearly leapt at him to hug him.

  “Holy Christ, I’ve missed you. And you come back with a mate. I’ll have a bit more catching up to do, I think.” Bennett hugged him again as they moved toward the kitchen, where he knew his parents were. “You have a staff here too. I don’t know if you were told that or not, but people were lined up to be a part of your family. How have you been?”

  He didn’t have an answer. How had he been? Before he could get too deep into answering the question or not, he asked the cook, Mary Margaret, if there was anything to drink. Glasses of tea—just like he liked it, without sugar—were set before them. Drinking his glass down, he was surprised when Autumn did the same. However, instead of refilling it from the pitcher as he’d thought, both their glasses refilled on their own. Another trick he’d learned and shared with his mate.

  “I’m here to stay. Did Mom tell you?” Mom said she was happiest for that bit of news. He looked at his dad, who winked at him when Mom left the kitchen. “Did I upset her?”

  “No. She’s been teary all afternoon. You should have seen her in the car coming home. She’s just so happy to have her boys back together. Bennett has been working hard to make as much trouble as the two of you used to do, but he’s fallen short of his goal.” Autumn left him to check on his mom. “She said she’d been sick. What was wrong with her?”

  “Cancer. It was in her blood and on her brain. The doctors hadn’t caught it in time.” Dad asked if he’d healed her. “I did. I have a great deal more magic now than before I left home. I guess you could say I’ve grown into it. Tanner helped me.”

  “He told us you were trying to control it. That you were even more powerful than he was.” Tanner hadn’t told him he’d been speaking to his parents. He didn’t mind, but he hadn’t known. “My parents are coming over later. We didn’t tell them you were home, just that we wanted to look around the house for any leaks or anything. Dad, of course, had to complain, but he’s missed you as well.”

  “I’ve missed everyone.” He knew that was true. Even though he’d not thought all that much about his family, he realized he had missed them.

  When his mom and Autumn returned, he could tell they’d both been crying. Mom apologized for leaving. It was Autumn that told her it was an emotional time. When they sat down in the dining room, a room he had a lot of fond memories of, Joey told his parents what was going on with Autumn and her sisters.

  “Do you want our help with it?” Before he could tell his dad no, he had it, Autumn answered for him. She said she would want their help. “It’s been a while since we’ve had to help a damsel in destress. Grandpa would have been in his element today, don’t you think?”

  “He would have taken her under his wing and made sure nothing harmed her.” Joey put his arm around Autumn. “I wish you could have met him. He would have loved you very much.”

  “You should tell your parents what it is you had to get under control. While it’s just the four of us.” He said later would be better. “No. I think now is a perfect time. They’re worried you’re not up to par. That you’re going to leave them as soon as tomorrow.”

  When the table started to shake, he looked at it instead of his parents. When Autumn told him again to show them, he felt his temper, something he’d not felt in a very long time, start to rise. When she stood up, he did as well.

  “Tell them, or I will. It’s important to them both.” He asked her why forgetting for a moment that his parents were right there. “They need to know they didn’t fail you.”

  That got him looking at his mom and dad. “You’ve never failed me. Never in all my life has anyone been there for me like the two of you have been.” Mom leaned her head into Dad’s chest. “Dad, you don’t think that, do you? That you’ve failed me somehow?”

  “Yes. We both do. You’ve been gone more than you’ve been here. We can only assume it’s because of something we’ve done. I know you and Tanner both told us you were learning to control your magic. Why didn’t you ask us? Why didn’t you come to either one of us when you were learning your magic? We would have moved heaven and earth for you, Joey. But it felt like you were forever pushing us away. Again.” Joey asked them if they meant at the trial. “I do. You wouldn’t allow us to come and see you there. It broke us to know you didn’t need us.”

  “Didn’t need you? I was leaving because I thought you’d think I was some sort of freak of nature. Every time I took a breath, I thought of you. Each time a little more magic came to me, I wanted to show you.” Mom asked why he’d left them instead of staying. “To protect you.”

  “From what?” Joey stood up. “Pleas
e. I don’t think my heart can take it if you leave us again, Joey. If you need to keep this from us, we’ll both learn to live with it. But we need you, son. More than we have needed any of our children. We wanted to be there for you, but you pushed us out of your life.”

  “I’m not leaving.” He closed his eyes and thought of all the things he could do now. All the magic he had at his disposal. Looking at his parents, he asked them if they’d go into the yard with him. “I’ll have more room and not destroy the house. I want you to know I’m not leaving. I won’t leave you again like I have before. I think…I hope once you see what I’ve become, you’re going to understand why I had to leave you to learn this. All right?”

  Joey looked at Autumn when they went to the yard. Pushing her hair off her cheek, he thought of all the things he wanted to say to her. Instead, he told her how much he loved her. Her cheeky grin had him laugh.

  “How did I make it through my life without having you by my side to guide and bully me? You knew about their feelings, didn’t you?” She said his mom had told her some, but she’d found the rest. “I see. Obviously, you didn’t hurt her in searching her mind. I love you, Autumn. Will you be there when they reject me?”

  “If they do, they’re not nearly as perfect as I think they are now.” She cocked her head and looked at him. “Are you aware that your eyes change color? Yesterday they were blue. An hour ago, they were green. Now they’re crystal clear. I never know what color they’re going to be from moment to moment.”